Around seventy fans braved potentially bad wintry weather to travel to Catlettsburg Elementary School in Sevierville, TN to witness their Midway Red Devils play their opening game in the 2009-10 state tournament.

Fresh off their district tournament win the Red Devils had earned a bye thrusting them directly into the quarter-final game against Surgoinsville. Red Devil head coach Phillip McNabb looked to have his players in the right frame of mind as they took to the court in warm-ups looking focused and ready for the contest against a good Eagle team. With a buzz of anticipation in the air the two teams took the court and lined up for the opening tip-off.

Dakota Brock opened the game scoring 6 of the first 8 Red Devil points with Nick Roberts adding the other 2 all before the Eagles knocked down their first basket at the 2:30 mark. With Midway leading 8-5 Paul Estep got a steal and the hoop with an “and-one” chance that he converted increasing the Midway score to 11-5.

Triston Noe then had his chance at an “and-one” and also converted. The Red Devils then applied the pressure defense as the first quarter clock was winding down and after a steal Noe threw up a shot with only seconds left and beat the buzzer with a half-court three pointer. After one quarter of play the Red Devils had a ten point lead at 17-7. Coach McNabb supported his team by shouting instructions as the second quarter began.

Noe then went on to score 4 straight points. Defensively Brock made a play by taking a charge giving even more momentum to the Red Devils. At 3:35 Estep hit a short jumper and followed it up as the break was nearing with two made free throws. Midway went into the locker room with a 9 point lead at 25-16.

Estep grabbed the first points out of the locker room for Midway followed up by a Noe basket increasing the Midway lead to 11 at 29-18. At the 3:07 mark Noe, Roberts and Estep hit three baskets consecutively with Estep having another “and-one “opportunity in which he converted. The third quarter ended with Midway having 36 and Surgoinsville 22.

The players took the court for the final and deciding quarter with the Eagles having six players on the court which quickly earned the Eagles a technical foul. Noe went to the stripe to shoot the technical foul shots making one of two. The Red Devils as a result of the technical then got possession. Brock and Estep each made baskets before Brock was again fouled on a made basket and went to the line to complete the traditional three point play. The score was now 46-31 as McNabb began to get playing time for his bench. The bench responded by scoring 6 quick points with Dakota Tolliver, Ben Hoskins and Jordan Ledford each hitting baskets as the game clock was winding down. 52-33 was the final score as the Midway fans cheered the effort.

Coach McNabb spoke after the game and said,” I thought we came in feeling a little too much pressure but we finally loosened up and played well in spurts. I think the team now realizes that it has the talent to play with anyone in this tournament and I am proud of their performance as a whole. I am looking forward to seeing how they come out and play on Friday night. We are going to have our hands full on Friday night against Happy Valley.” The Red Devils indeed had their hands full on Friday night at 7:00 pm as they faced the Warriors of Happy Valley.

Leading Midway in scoring with 17 points was Triston Noe. Paul Estep had 14 with teammate Dakota Brock also scoring in double figures with 11. Nick Roberts had 4 with Jordan Ledford, Ben Hoskins and Dakota Tolliver all three scoring 2 points.